Beneath the Cross
Where a thirty-three year old
Is nailed and is dying,
His mother stands…..
Her body and soul
Grasping the meaning of pain.
‘Your heart will be pierced
with a sword’, it was said.
She hears her son’s words
“My kingdom is not of this world”,
He had not come to be
The king of a pleasure-seeking world.
The sword that pierced her soul
Tells of a reality beyond pleasure.
A King born in an animal shed
And now killed like a criminal.
No worldly idea of power
Wealth or pleasure.
Indeed a contradiction.
As the old Prophet said…..
Only a heart pierced with a sword
Could understand and grasp
The inseparable bond
Between pain and love.
Basil Fernando
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